Dear Families:
Welcome to our delayed Catholic Schools Week! We have planned fun, though modified, activities to celebrate throughout the week. Last Wednesday, in preparation for Community Appreciation Day, our students gathered for the first time all year in their school “Families” to decorate thank you posters which were delivered by the PreK and 5th earlier today. Usually, when working in their Families, students gather in circles or a small group but as I walked around to see their efforts, they were sitting in desks to follow Covid safety protocols. It appeared rather sad to me, but they didn’t mind a bit and were happily working together. Such resilience in these kids!
Tomorrow, we celebrate our parish and the good work done by all to support our school. We are grateful for parishioners’ prayers as well as the financial support they provide to us as we continue our 98-year history as an essential ministry of our parish.
Thursday is the special day we set aside each year to celebrate our students. Though we can‘t have our usual faculty v. 8th grade volleyball game, we aren’t going to let that stop the festivities. There will be Free Dress, no homework, a special treat and outdoor games with the faculty competing against the 8th graders. Following the sound defeat that the faculty has planned, the 7th graders will challenge the 8th graders to the same games, while the 5th and 6th grades play kickball, and the younger grades watch a show in the gym. Best of all, we end the day sending them off to a long mid-winter break!
There has been much news lately about the Covid pandemic moving to an endemic. We are thrilled that the positive case numbers are coming down. Though the state is removing the mask requirement for outdoor gatherings of 500 or more, this does not affect our school policy of wearing masks inside and outside when on our campus. We will wait for direction from the Health Department. For now, we are sticking with our current policy. I will alert you to any changes following recommendations from the authorities. I truly look forward to the day we can say, “No mask, no distancing, all is back to normal!” We just need a bit more time and a few more prayers.
This Friday, there is no school for students as our faculty and staff will be having a professional development day. We will be focusing on Executive Functioning strategies and rubrics to increase student success in the classroom. During this year, we have been doing a faculty book study on “Promoting Executive Functioning in the Classroom” by Lynn Meltzer. Friday will be an extension of our learning with attention to developing plans and processes.
Finally, just a reminder that next week is our mid-winter break. Please give special consideration to Covid safety protocols, especially if you are traveling. We have been blessed to have no Covid cases in our building in almost two weeks, but it always seems that opportunities arise for greater exposure when students are not in the building, daily. Whatever we can do to keep the non-positive streak going will be most appreciated.
Have a great week!
Mary